Mamello ‘Meme’ posing in front of her photo exhibited at Wits Art Museum (WAM) on the 1st Feb. 2014

My name is Mamello Motaung, I started my career in photography at the Market Photo Workshop (MPW), on the 4th of March 2015. Zanele Muholi introduced me to MPW. The first week of my schooling was hectic. I didn’t know the place, how to take photographs, how photography works, and how to handle a camera.

I was very shy to talk in class, but my trainers were very polite and always assisted me with everything that I didn’t understand. It was a course that lasted for 8 weeks. I fell in love with photography during my second assignment, when we did HOME. We had to capture places where we get a sense of home, and that one person that makes you feel at home. It was really interesting because they gave us cameras to take them home for our assignment.

It was a great feeling, until I did my first crit, then it was not nice at all. My seniors told me that crits are important. My trainers told me that crit. sessions happen every week so that they can “judge your work (photographs).” Weeks passed and I got used to the school and the course. I had problems with the focus on my camera, most of my images were out of focus. It was my digital trainer who helped me a lot, until I got it right. Patience is the key, but it really hurt me a lot, it was not nice to have images that are out of focus.

The last week of my Foundation Course (FC) was hectic. I even thought about quitting immediately, and then I thought about where I came from and where I want to go. The biggest challenge I faced was mounting my boards, which happened a day before my final crit, I couldn’t even mount.

Most of the students who did their Foundation Course before me always told me that FC is hectic and I must learn to manage my time because photography is not child’s play. So I had to be serious about my career and spend most of my time doing my work. I didn’t have time to chill with my friends or go out as I used to. I had to change my life for those 8 weeks and start being a photographer.

My whole lifestyle changed, change is good as they say. I really love the change that I made with my life, because I never thought I would do photography in my life. Its all thanks to Zanele Muholi for giving me this opportunity to study photography at the Market Photo Workshop, now I am so in love with it and I would love to further my studies in photography so that I can get skills and better knowledge about photography. I would also love to study cinematography after completing my qualifications in photography at the Market Photo Workshop.

1 Response to 2015 June 15: Being given the opportunity to study photography

I am a student from the university of johannesburg, passionate and devoted to the art of photography.

I am just 18 years old and i live in Johannesburg (Braamfontein)

Coming from a disadvantaged township on the West -rand, my plea is just to recieve all possible and available aid to enhance my skills in the art and field of photography.

it all began with taking pictures in and around my bedroom, then i started travelling in and around Johannesburg, and now i am optimistic and assured that photography is what i was called and chosen for. I love photography, it is the only instrument at my disposal, that can transform my life and my family at large.

All i am asking for is an opportunity, a training, a mentor, anything that can be an aid unto me.

It may not be involved with money, i can just work as a helper or a volunteer.